Richard King’s Radical .223 Rem F-Class Rig

We know you guys like exotic hardware, so today we pulled something very exotic from our featured rifle archives. We doubt that you have ever seen anything quite like this before. Gun-builder Richard King says: “I thought you might like to see my latest project. This is my personal gun, built the way I wanted it. I know it’s radical and some may not care for it. But it works.”

Report by Richard King (King’s Armory, Texas; ‘Kings X’ on our Forum)
This is pretty much an all-aluminum rifle. The action is a Kelbly F-Class with a Shilen stainless steel competition trigger. The scope is a 1″-tube Leupold 36X with a Tucker Conversion set in Jewell spherical bearing rings. The .223 barrel is Pac-Nor 3-groove, 1:6.5″-twist mounted in a “V”-type barrel block. The bipod has vertical adjustment only via a dovetail slide activated by a stick handle. It works like a joy-stick, but for vertical only. I adjust for windage by moving the rear sandbag.

The 30″ barrel is 1.250″ in diameter. With the barrel block forward, the vibrations should be at a low frequency. Instead of one long rod whipping, I now have two short rods (barrel haves) being dampened. This is my fourth barrel block gun. They work, but so does a good pillar-bedded action. I just do stuff a little different.

The vertical “keel” down the bottom of the stock stops the “spring” of a flat-bar stock. There is little, if any, noticeable flex before or during recoil. The long length of the stock, the fat barrel, and the forward-mounted barrel block work together to keep the gun from rising off the ground. BUT, remember this is a .223 Rem rifle. A .308 Win version might act very differently. I may try a .308-barreled action soon, just to see what happens. But I will stick with the .223 Rem as my choice for match shooting.

The offset scope idea came from a benchrest “rail” gun. In truth, the whole concept came from a rail gun — just adapted to being shot off a bipod. Sure it isn’t directly over the bore. It is about 1.5″ over to the left. So if you want the scope to be zeroed on the center of the target, you have to adjust for the offset. At 100 yards that is 1.5 MOA. But at 300 it is only 0.5 MOA, at 600 only a ¼-MOA, and at 1000 about 1 click on my scope.

What the offset DOES do for me is eliminate any cheek pressure. My cheek never touches the stock. Since this is only a .223 Rem, I don’t put and shoulder pressure behind it. And I don’t have a pistol grip to hang on to, but I do put my thumb behind the trigger guard and “pinch” the two-ounce trigger.

The offset scope placement could interfere with loading a dual-port action from the left. That’s not a problem for me as I set my spotting scope up on the left side very close to the rifle. I have plenty of time to reload from the right side while the target is in the pits being scored.

Again — this is my rifle. It is designed for my style of shooting. It is not meant to be a universal “fit all” for the general public. However, I will say the design is adaptable. I can easily convert the system to run in F-Open Class. I would drop a big-bore barreled action into the “V” block, slide on a heavier pre-zeroed scope and rings, add plates on the sides up front to bring the width to 3”, and maybe a recoil pad. It might be interesting to offset the wings up from to counter torque of the big bullets. But I would also have to offset the rear bag rider to get the gun to recoil straight back.

How the Gun Performs
I have had “T” to the range only twice for load development. It groups like my present barrel-blocked 223 F-TR gun. But it’s much easier to shoot and it only moves about 3/4” — straight back. I tried to build am omni-directional joy-stick bipod but I could not get all the side-to-side wiggle out of it. So I have set it up so it only moves up and down (horizontal movement is locked-out). As it works now, the joystick on the bipod lets me set elevation on the target quickly (with up/down adjustment). Then, to adjust for windage, I slide my rear bag side-to-side as needed. Once set, I just tickle the trigger and smile.

Gun Handling — Shoot It Like a Bench-Gun
I basically shoot the gun with no cheek or body contact. I don’t grip it, other than maybe a pinch on the trigger guard. The scope was offset to the left to help the shooter move off the gun and avoid the possibility of head/cheek contact with the stock.

Just an update on the rifle. The adjustable bi-pod did not work out for me. I spent too much time playing with it after each shot. So now it is non-adjustable except for the off center feet. What I did add is an adjustable bag rider in the rear.
Still fighting loads for the 90 grainers at 1K. They look good at short range but are all over the target at 1k.
Thanks for looking at the rig.

Richard, Nice rig!!! Ive shot 90`s in a 6.5 twist pac nor at 1000 without much luck. Went to 80.5 Berger witch did better. Still I had a hard time getting the SD down with the load and finally put the project aside. I had a 7.7 Krieger that worked wonders at 1000 in .233 so I was stubborn about not giving up on the project. Since then ive never had a barrel that could duplicate the results. Im president of a local 1000Y range in albany ny so we get shoot 1000 quit often.

Richard,
First very cool rig.
I have a few questions. What barrel manufacturer are you using? The reason I ask is I have a factory Savage barrel that looks just exactly like that and it is junk. Have you calculated your vibration node from the bolt face or from the barrel block? Also usually, the good groups occur with VLDs at longer range not at closer range. Have you tried development at 300yds?

Mark,
Far from factory. Pac-Nor 1.25″ diameter for 30″. 1-6.5″ twist. Sub 1/2 MOA at 300. In the 3s at 100.
Don’t know anything about calculating nodes.
Been trying 90s since 2004. This is the second 6.5″. Had a 6″, 7″, two 8″. Three actions, four stocks, four scopes, 10+ powders.
Always same results – junk at 1K. I am a HM with F-open gun.